"I think we have to stay aggressive," said Sabres forward Ville Leino. "We start games aggressive, and some games we do really well, and we just have to keep going 60 minutes."

Matt Hendricks also scored for Washington in the shootout, while Capitals goalie Braden Holtby stopped both of Buffalo's shootout attempts. Mike Green capped a two-goal third-period rally and forced overtime by scoring with 40 seconds left.

"They score a goal with 39 seconds left in the third and all the guys responsible on the ice - myself included - we tried to get in the lane to block the shot," said Sabres forward Steve Ott. "We obviously lose the game and it was a hard one to lose because of how tight we were all night."

Troy Brouwer had a goal and assist for Washington, which bounced back from a 3-2 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday to improve to 4-1 in its past five.

Ville Leino scored twice and Christian Ehrhoff also scored for the Sabres, who are 0-1-2 in their past three, and continued to slip in the standings.